Short Sleeve Jerseys: Here to Stay?

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Recently, adidas unveiled their new NBA uniforms for the Golden State Warriors, as you may have recently seen with a few of the NCAA Teams, and it was perhaps the most shocking news involving basketball uniforms since the switch from short-shorts to long-shorts. However, this time around the shocker did not come from the shorts, but instead from the short-sleeves. Yes, that’s right, the new adidas NBA uniforms come equipped with short-sleeves. Our question is, will they be here to stay?

So why the redesign of the uniforms in the first place? Well, the new adiZero Short Sleeve Uniform System, as it is officially named, is said to be 26% lighter than the Golden State Warriors’ current uniforms. All of that sounds fine and dandy, but if we did our math right, wouldn’t the uniforms be even lighter if they didn’t have short-sleeves on them? We aren’t math majors, but we’re thinking we have the correct formula. So what is the point of the sleeves? Is it simply for aesthetics? If it is, we’re a little worried that the NBA might be heading overseas, because the new short-sleeved design looks awfully European. Not that European styling is bad, but come on, basketball is rugged, it’s raw, it’s the sport that gave us countless cuts and bruises on the asphalt when we were youngsters. In short, it feels like more of a sleeveless sport.

So, short-sleeve NBA uniforms; are they here to stay? Adidas has a contract with the NBA until 2017, so they just might be around until then. However, we have a hunch that if either the players don’t like them or the fans purchase less of them, adidas will scrap the sleeves, making uniforms that are 27% lighter than the current ones (give or take).